Product Review - Trautoniks Trautonium VT2012
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Reviews : Sound Module
German company Trautoniks have painstakingly recreated a lost classic from the annals of electronic music history. What’s that? You’ve never heard of the Trautonium? Then read on...
The history of early electronic instruments is strewn with colourful and mysterious names, amongst the best remembered being Ondes Martenot and Theremin, but there were notable others. Some remain obscure to this day, such as the Spherophone and Partiturophone, but others are better appreciated — for example, Friedrich Trautwein’s Trautonium.
Dating back to the 1930s, the Trautonium’s capacity for eerie pitch-slides invites comparison with the Theremin, but in terms of how it’s played, it’s closer to the less-known Electro-theremin, or Tannerin. In the works of Paul Hindemith and Oskar Sala, the Trautonium grew into an expressive and distinctive solo instrument that later evolved into a more complex source of experimental sounds ideal for science fiction and horror movies. But it’s the sound and style of the earliest machines that have inspired German company Trautoniks for their Trautonium VT2012.
Was Ist Das?
The Trautonium’s pitch is determined by the position of a finger on the metal resistor wire and its volume by how much pressure you apply.
The Trautoniks Trautonium VT2012, which I’ll refer to as the Trautonium for convenience, is a monophonic analogue synthesizer-like instrument played by the action of fingers on a metal resistor wire. The wire is mounted on a metal plate, referred to as the ‘manual’ or ‘playground’, the whole thing set on a tilting metal arm hidden inside the box. The pressure applied when you play a note determines its volume, so it’s that rare combination of expressive to play but simple to grasp. Unlike the Theremin or Ondes Martenot, the Trautonium requires only a single hand — and musicians will always put a free hand to good use!
The arm is sprung quite strongly and with a solid resistance, but this is necessary so that the Trautonium can deliver fast, staccato notes. It felt a bit weird the first time my finger pushed down hard and the entire manual sank into the wooden frame, though! There’s also a degree of rattling to get used to — especially if you happen to be inclined towards vigorous tremolo or vibrato — but the structure felt able to cope with any excesses of mine very comfortably. Apparently, the original Trautonium from 1933 had a dynamic stretch of just 2mm and was very stiff.
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Wed 22 May 2013
Sound On Sound : Est. 1985